Economic cooperation between Vietnamese and South Korean businesses will be much more diversified in the future, especially in the fields of support industries, services, and education, Mr. Kim Jae Hong, Chairman of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), told the Vietnam-Korea Business Partnership 2017 program held on November 10 in Hanoi.

He also pointed out that more and more South Korean businesses are interested in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the country. Through M&A, the two sides will have the opportunity to cooperate in technology transfer and establish joint ventures. “When South Korea boosts technology transfer to Vietnam, the two countries can together penetrate into other countries through free trade agreements signed by Vietnam,” he said.

“Trade between the two countries in the first three quarters of this year was $47.2 billion, and I expect the figure to exceed $50 billion in 2017, or more than 100 times the 1992 figure,” he added. Vietnam is South Korea’s largest investment market in ASEAN and this trend will continue into the future, he said.

Many M&A experts have said that South Korea’s M&A deals with Southeast Asian countries are increasing annually in both volume and value. However, South Korean businesses in Vietnam also face a host of difficulties in terms of financial reporting and a lack of advisors and experts with knowledge of Vietnamese businesses to negotiate M&A deals.

The Vietnam-Korea Business Partnership 2017 program targeted opening up favorable conditions for the two countries’ enterprises in terms of technology, trade, support industries, M&As, intellectual property rights, and corporate social responsibility.

It comprised a series of events, including one-on-one business meetings between Vietnamese and South Korean enterprises, gathering together 100 Vietnamese companies and 17 South Korean firms operating in the fields of information technology, electrical machinery, components automation, chemicals, construction equipment, and industrial materials.

M&A activities targeting Southeast Asia so far this year have reached $53.5 billion in 290 deals, increasing in value by 23.1 per cent compared to the same period of 2016. This is the second-highest value in the first three quarters of a year, according to Mergermarket data. In Vietnam, there were 37 deals in the period worth $1.218 billion.

M&A deals in Vietnam hit an all-time record of $5.8 billion in 2016, growth of 11.92 per cent compared to 2015, according to a report released at a press meeting to launch the M&A Forum 2017 in July.

South Korea and other countries, including Thailand, Singapore, Japan, mainland China, and Hong Kong are the Top 5 buyers in Vietnam.